Mavric

PREDICT THE SCORE - RUSHING & PASSING YARDS FOR NU Please read before posting. This contest is FREE and only available for HuskerBoard members. Get a free account above. DIRECTIONS: 1) Post your prediction (score, passing and rushing yards) for the current game in this thread by clicking on the "Reply" button at the bottom of the screen. Please post only one submission - if you post multiple submissions, only the first will be considered. 2) Include both team names - if you do not include both team names it will be assumed that Nebraska is the higher of the two. RULES: The winner MUST predict the exact score. If more than one member correctly predicts the exact score, the tie-breaker is: -The member who closest predicts the Husker passing yards (it doesn't matter if the prediction is over or under). If there is still a tie, then... -The member who closest predicts the Husker rushing yards (it doesn't matter if the prediction is over or under), if there is still a tie, then... -Whichever member posted the first correct score in the contest. -One submission per person -- IP addresses will be cross-checked -- if multiple entries are submitted by the same person using different user-names, they will be permanently disqualified from all future contests. Predictions must be posted at least 30 minutes prior to kick-off. The time-stamp on your post will be used as the deciding time, so adjust your time zone setting in your "Control Panel" to ensure your posts are accurate, OR get your post in early so there is no confusion!! Send questions to admin@huskerboard.com or contact any Moderator. Good luck!! NOTE: If you edit your score before the contest closes, please make sure you check the "Add the 'Edited By' line" box directly above the "Submit modified post" button. See the image below. This will help make sure all changes are accounted for. Thanks!

GSG5545 - Cincinnati, Arizona, Dallas, Denver, New England Lil' Red - Seattle, Carolina, Miami, Minnesota, New England The Dude - Philadelphia, Baltimore, Miami, Minnesota, Green Bay TAKODA - Seattle, Carolina, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, New England MattyIce - Green Bay, Baltimore, Arizona wiuhusker - Seattle, Arizona NUance - Philadelphia, Seattle commando - Seattle, Kansas City Mavric - Seattle, Detroit Minnesota_husker - Houston, Washington 1995 Redux - Oakland, Chicago Army_Allen - Oakland, Seattle Savage Husker - Buffalo dudeguyy - Arizona GM_Tood - Indianapolis

MattyIce - Illinois, Rutgers, Wisconsin, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan Lil' Red - Purdue, Rutgers, Penn State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio State Savage Husker - Purdue, Rutgers, Penn State, Minnesota, Maryland, Illinois huskered17 - Purdue, Indiana, Rutgers, Minnesota, Maryland, Illinois Mavric - Maryland, Rutgers, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa dudeguyy - Purdue, Rutgers, Penn State, Minnesota, Iowa commando - Nebraska, Rutgers, Penn State, Minnesota, Iowa C N Red - Purdue, Rutgers, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan State GM_Tood - Illinois, Rutgers, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Michigan State JJHusker1 - Maryland, Rutgers, Penn State, Indiana ColoradoHusk - Maryland, Rutgers, Penn State, Indiana GSG5545 - Purdue, Rutgers, Maryland, Indiana Coach Power'T - Purdue, Rutgers, Maryland Minnesota_husker - Nebraska, Minnesota, Illinois NUance - Purdue, Northwestern 1995 Redux - Purdue, Northwestern It'sNotAFakeID - Maryland, Northwestern IA State Husker - Nebraska, Maryland Sargon - Nebraska SUHperman - Illinois In the Deed the Glory - Purdue Day by Day - Purdue

Uhhhhhh.....

Washington -10 Maryland -1 Michigan State -5

They they all do it all game but you're going to claim they don't get taught to do that based on .... what?

I've seen quite a bit of grumbling - both here and from media guys - about our linebacker play this year. I thought it was interesting because I haven't really gotten the sense that they were playing badly - missing tackles, etc. - but they haven't really made a lot of plays either. I was wondering how much of that could be related to the scheme. So I tried to check on the LBs as I rewatched the game tonight. As it turns out, I think a lot - if not most - of their "struggles" is how our defense is set up. Almost every time they read run, they are filling their gap hard. The problem with that is if the run isn't into that gap, they've run themselves up into the line and have no lane to scrape to the play. This seems to be how they are taught to run this defense as they all do it and even Gerry and Aaron Williams are often seen filling a gap hard when they read run as opposed to waiting to see where the play develops. I really only watched that in this one game so I won't really make a blanket statement yet but since we are giving up over 6.6 yards per carry over the last three games, I think it's pretty likely that our linebackers often running themselves out of the play has a lot to do with our poor run defense. We are currently #98 in the country in yards per attempt allowed and that 6.6 ypa over the last three games would be dead last in the country for the season by quite a ways. I think the same scheme issue contributes to the LBs not really making many plays in the passing game either. If there is any play-action look the LBs charge ahead then have to turn and try to get back into the passing lanes. However, by that time the receivers are well into their routes and the LBs have little hope of making up enough ground to be a factor. I've grabbed a couple screen shots to illustrate this. This is Illinois' first play of the game. At the snap, we're in our base defense with MRI splitting the gap out to the slot. The play is a straight ahead run. All three LBs plus Gerry are keying the RB and before the RB even gets to the line Young has filled his gap hard, Bando has come across the formation and filled behind him, Gerry has come from 11 yards off the ball to 4 and into a blocker and MRI has come from a wide left position all the way to over the center. That is all a nice piece of aggressive defense. However the problem is no one is home for the cutback. Three guys (Young, Bando and Gerry) have filled so hard that they are now caught up in traffic and can't scrape back and MRI is unblocked but runs by the RB and can't get back in position to make the tackle. Illinois ends up getting 7 yards on the play. Here's another example. At the snap, we're in our base personnel and base alignment. The play is an inside zone run, straight handoff. Neither MRI nor Young are even blocked on the play. They simply run themselves up into the line - presumably filling their gap - but since the play doesn't come through their gap, they've totally run themselves out of the play. Only a saving tackle by Gerry keeps this from being a touchdown. When you don't even have to block two linebackers and they are non-factors on a straight ahead run, that's an issue. Now, you can say our LBs should be playing it differently and I agree. However, when they are all doing the same thing on most running (and play-action) plays, that has to be how they are being coached to do it. Why we're doing it that way I have no idea but I think it is costing us.

Also, I didn't pick up on this live but rewatching the game I noticed that part of the reason we were able to run the ball so well in the forth quarter was because we were working to get to the outside more rather than just running straight ahead. According to Huskers.com, of Newby's fourth quarter carries, seven of them were "up middle" for 28 yards and 8 of the carries were to the outside for 84 yards. He also caught a swing pass for 21 yards so when we got him to the outside he gained 105 yards on 9 touches. Obviously one 63 yards gain boosts the average but Newby has the speed and quickness to get big chunks like that. He just hasn't had many chances to do it.

And 3 TDs

Great work again. YPA doesn't seem to vary a whole lot. Wyoming first half on the high end, Oregon first half on the low end but the rest fairly similar (mostly between 7.0 and 10.1).

Lewis - 33% - I'd really like to go 50% because I think he has legitimate interest but I think USC being just down the street wins out. Sarrell - 20% - Kind of the same as Lewis in that I think he's interested but we're no better than third on his list right now (Stanford & Washington) Holmes - 15% - A couple months ago I would have gone a lot higher but I think he's moved on (UCLA trending hard) Jackson - 5% - He's claimed he will visit but until he actually sets up a date I don't get too excited Peoples-Jones - 2% - I think we're down his list a ways

Awesome work. You would expect that more attempts would lead to more rushing yards but it's a pretty solid trend that more attempts also correlates to a higher YPA as well. Now that's a bit of a chicken and the egg - did we run it more because it was working or did we wear them down by running more so we got bigger chunks later - but the trend is pretty obvious. Wyoming was definitely the outlier but it was also the game where Newby barely got any carries (4) and we spent almost 80% of the time running Ozigbo and Newby straight into the middle of the line. So we weren't giving ourselves much of a chance by who we were giving the ball to and what plays were being called.

He had a good, tough series and a big run but Ozigbo was injured. I'd say they're still even. Really the only reason Ozigbo is still "better" or even "even" to people is because they like the way he runs. And it is fun to watch him get a couple extra yards with how hard he runs. But Newby has more yards on 17 fewer carries (22% fewer carries than Ozigbo). His YPC is 1.3 higher than Ozigbo's. He has several runs longer than Ozigbo's longest run. Ozigbo still only has one game all season where his YPC is higher than Newby's worst YPC game. Ozigbo is a good back and definitely has a role on the team. But Newby is much more productive.